Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Co. v. Murphy

Citations

• 75 Kan. 707
• 90 P. 290
• 1907 Kan. LEXIS 119

Syllabus

<p>syllabus BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. CONDEMNATION Proceedings — Railroad Right of Way — Purchaser Pendente Lite. Where a railroad company institutes a proceeding to condemn land for a right of way and the commissioners appointed to assess, the damages make an award for the land proposed to be so taken, from which the owner appeals, and the railroad company thereupon takes possession of the land and proceeds to construct its railroad, and while the appeal is pending sells its property, rights and franchises to another railroad company, which at once enters upon and uses the land condemned with the intention of permanently using and occupying the same as a right of way, and afterward judgment is entered upon the appeal increasing the award, the judgment so rendered is binding upon the purchasing company, although it was not a party to the appeal; and the landowner may maintain a personal action against it to recover the award so made, and in the action such award is conclusive as to the amount of damages.</p> <p>2. Practice, Supreme Court — Review of Ruling on a Demurrer —Limitation. A ruling upon a demurrer made more than a year before the proceeding in error is instituted is not open to review in that proceeding.</p> <p>3. Petition — Construction—Objection to Evidence. An objection to the admission of any testimony is not the best method of testing the sufficiency of a petition, and upon such objection the court should interpret its allegations very liberally, and sustain the pleading if it can reasonably be done.</p> <p>4. -Prayer for Relief — Judgment. In the prayer of a petition there were demands for both specific and general relief, and the fact that a mistake was made in the prayer for specific relief did not prevent the granting of such relief as the allegations of the petition and the circumstances of the case justified under the prayer for general relief.</p>